Utkal University came into being under the Utkal University Act, 1943. In 1966 that act was repealed and a new Utkal University Act came into effect from 1 January 1967. Initially Utkal University was operating from the Ravenshaw College, before it came to its own campus at Bhubaneswar, called Vani Vihar. Ravenshaw College remained affiliated to Patna University even after the separation of Orissa from Bihar in 1936 and the affiliation was finally transferred to the newly created Utkal University in 1943.